The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In the wake of a neighbor’s apparent suicide, a young London
family comes under suspicion as they uncover secret after secret about each
other and their relationships in McPherson’s debut mystery.

Alex, Millicent, and their 11-year-old son, Max, have been
dealing with the aftermath of a family tragedy that has led, somewhat
ironically, to Millicent’s success as an author of self-help books. When Alex
and Max then discover the body of their neighbor Bryce, it appears to be a
suicide. But as Alex and the police begin to dig deeper, they find connections
between Millicent and the neighbor that suggest the truth might be much darker.
McPherson’s mystery is carefully constructed, a literary house of cards. Layer
upon layer of revelation increases the tension, but the characters behave so
abominably that it becomes hard to stick with them to the end when the truth is
revealed. In the era following the success of Gone Girl, there
seems to be an overflow of psychological thrillers in which there is much
mystery but no sympathetic character. This novel joins that category. The
mystery of what happened to the neighbor is rather cleverly unspooled, but it
becomes eclipsed by the outrageous and destructive antics of Alex and Millicent
as well as the precocious Max. And once we know what happened to Bryce, the superficial
response to this revelation is disturbing, neglecting to truly consider what it
may mean for the future of the family. There are moments that almost seem like
fantasy because they violate our expectations of how adults behave—but perhaps
that's the attraction of this kind of thriller.

Schadenfreude in spades, but a little too dark to be a
comfortable guilty pleasure.

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